Introduction to Matthew, Mark and Luke

The four gospel books of the Bible - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - tell the
dramatic story of Jesus, the Son of God and our Savior. His birth, His parables
and other teachings, His love for all God's people, His miracles, triumphs, disappointments,
conflicts, prayers, arrest, trial, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension to heaven
are all narrated in the gospels.

Map of Palestine at the Time of Jesus (left) and Today

Synopsis of the Gospels

Almost everything we know about Jesus' life, ministry, teachings, death and resurrection
comes from the four gospels. Both Matthew and Luke recount Jesus' birth in the city
of Bethlehem, in what is now southern Israel. He spent his youth and early adulthood
in the city of Nazareth, in the land of Galilee. Almost nothing is known of this
period of His life, except for the incident at the Temple told in Luke 2:41-51.
At about age 30, Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan by John the Baptist and
began His public ministry. He selected 12 disciples who would carry on his ministry
after Him. He traveled through the regions of Galilee, Samaria, and Judea in Palestine
teaching in the synagogues and speaking to the crowds of people who followed wherever
He went. He preached about the kingdom of God, repentance, and love for all people.
The gospels tell how He healed the sick wherever He went and performed many other
miracles.

Jesus was very critical of the hypocrisy of the religious leaders of His time.
He said they observed the letter of the Jewish law, but defiled its spirit by living
lives of greed and sin. These religious leaders plotted to kill Jesus, and eventually
forced the Roman governor, Pilate, to order His crucifixion on Friday, the eve of
Passover. The gospels tell that Jesus arose from the dead on the following Sunday,
and He remained on Earth another 40 days before ascending into heaven. Jesus, Himself,
said He was the Son of God, the Christ, the Messiah awaited by the Jews. He said
His death and resurrection were all part of God's mysterious plan for our salvation.

History of the Gospels

In the year 532 A.D., a monk named Denys le Petit calculated that Jesus was born
in the Roman year 753, and that year was gradually adopted as year 1 A.D. by Christian
countries. However, it is now believed that Denys miscalculated and Jesus was actually
born between 6 and 4 B.C. From the accounts in the gospels Jesus was probably crucified,
resurrected and ascended to heaven in the year 29 or 30 A.D.

Saul, a fierce persecutor of Christians, had a dramatic conversion experience
around the year 35 A.D. (Acts 9:1-19). He changed his name to Paul and became the
first and most influential interpreter of the Christian message.

The gospel message was preserved in oral form for many years before being written
down. Bible scholars believe the letters of Paul are the oldest books in the New
Testament, written between 50 and 60 A.D. Mark was written around 70 A.D., about
40 years after Jesus was crucified. Matthew and Luke were written between 80 and
90 A.D. Finally, The Gospel of John appeared in its final form around 95 A.D. Bible
Scholars believe Matthew and Luke incorporated much of the material from Mark into
their gospels. They also included unique material of their own plus common material
from a presumed source called "Q" (from the German, quelle, meaning "source"),
which has not been preserved.

Because of their similarity, Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the synoptic
gospels (from the Greek synopsis, meaning "a seeing together").
Most of the Bible Studies will be on a single book, but we are grouping the three
synoptic gospels together because they have so much in common.

All four Gospels are anonymous in the sense that none mentions the author's name.
The traditional names - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - did not become associated
with these writings until the second century. Whether or not these men were the
actual authors is very controversial. For convenience, however, we will refer to
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as if they are the true authors.

The synoptic gospels read like a biography of Jesus, but that was not their original
purpose. Neither were they written as history books or as books of a Christian Bible.
Instead, they were first used in the early Christian churches as devotional materials,
much like sermons. The human authors of these books selectively picked materials
to include, rearranged it, and presented it in a way to suit their devotional purposes.
Therefore we have to be content with gaps in our knowledge of Jesus' life and with
some inconsistencies in names, places, times and other details of the events narrated
in the gospels. However, we get a very similar "big picture" of Jesus'
life and work from all four gospels, and we are fortunate to have these four "windows"
to see four views of the central events of Christianity.

The Bible Study Lessons

Each lesson in this series of Bible studies has a reading assignment and a number
of thought-provoking questions to be answered by the reader. The questions are intended
to help us think about what the Bible passages really mean and how they apply to
our lives, and to lead us to a deeper, more mature faith. We cannot truly say we
know and trust Jesus until we have studied His words to us spoken through the four
gospels.

We also supply answers for some of the questions. However, for maximum personal
benefit, you should answer all the questions yourself before looking at our answers.
Our answers are given from a mainstream Christian and historical viewpoint. We use
the best reference materials available to present the Bible as it was understood
by the original audience in Biblical times. But God calls different people in different
ways, and there is no single "right" answer for many of the questions;
your answers may well be different from ours.

The Bible Studies are nonsectarian, and are suitable for use by all Christians.
The vast majority of the gospel passages are interpreted the same way by all mainstream
Christian denominations. A few passages are controversial, and we will sometimes
point out and explain the denominational differences.

Most of the Bible studies in this series will proceed from beginning to end of
the Bible book in an orderly manner. In contrast, the study of Matthew, Mark and
Luke will seem very fragmented. We have used the arrangement of verses suggested
by Dr. Burton Throckmorton in his book, Gospel Parallels, A Synopsis of the First
Three Gospels.Every verse is included, but, as much as possible, corresponding
sections of the three gospels are grouped together and arranged in chronological
order. This will somewhat disturb the flow of the individual gospels, but it will
hopefully provide the clearest overall picture of Jesus' life, works, death, resurrection
and His messages to us.